Improvement in trusses



W. LLTUGKER.

' Truss.

' No. 208,869. vPatented'om". 8,1878.

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V/ TNES'S Ea la. MM

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

TILLIAM L. TUCKER, OF SYRAOUSE, NEW YORK.

IM PROVEM ENT IN TRUSSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 20S,S69, dated October 8, 1878; application filed July 30,187 8.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. TUCKER, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have inventedy new and useful Improvements in Hernial Trusses, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention consists, first, in a novel combination and arrangement of a plate hinged to the pad, and having a spring interposed at its free end, a setscrew connected to the hinged plate at a fixed point, and the connecting-bar and band-receiving plate pivoted to the hinged plate by the set-screw aforesaid, and provided with means for adjusting them in their respective positions.

It also consists in improved means of hinging the back-plate to the pad, whereby the said plate is braced against lateral strain, the attachment and detachment of saine for repairs or renewal are facilitated, and the said parts are better secured to each other audit furthermore consists in a novel, simple, and convenient means of adjusting the tension'of the spring.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing7 wherein Figure l is a rear view of my improved truss; Fig. 2, a view of the connecting-bar detached; Fig. 3, a rear view of one of the pads detached, and Fig. 4 a vertical transverse section on line x :v of Fig. 1'.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

c represents the pad, and b the back-plate, which latter has heretofore been hinged either to the end of a plate attached to the pad or directly to the pad by a pintle eXtendin g transversely through the body of the pad 5 but inasmuch as the back-plate is subjected to various strains, neither of the said constructions aorded the requisite rigidity and safety for the fastening of the hinge, and in case of the breaking of the'pintle it was difficult to remove the pieces. To obviate these difculties, and at the same timel compensate in a measure for the weakening of the pad incident to the excision of thelongitudinal recess in the rear thereof', and, furthermore, to simplify and reduce the cost of construction, I employ a short pintle, c, projecting from the sides of the plate l e is the main plate, to whichthe bands are attached. It is secured to the back-plate b by set-screw s, and provided with suitable means to impart to it the required radial adjustabiL ity. j' is the bar by which the two pads are connected with each other.

In order to adapt the truss to various localities of the hernize and for persons of various sizes, it is essential to make the connection of the bar f with the pad adjustable both vertically and horizontally. To attain this adjustability perfectly, and without varying or impairing the efciency of the truss, I provide the ends of the connecting-bar f with two series of holes, t' and i t i', arranged obliquely and parallel with each other, and pivot it to the back-plate b by means of the set-screw s passing through one of the outer series of holes, L L 6.

The back-plate b is provided with a lateral extension or wing, 1v, in which are a series of holes arranged in an arc described from the center of the pivot s, and with aradius equal to the distance from one of the outer holes, 1'., to its corresponding inner hole, i', in the connecting-bar, so that in turning the pad on its pivot s the inner hole, i', in the bar f, correspondin g with the pivot, will coincide throughout with the holes in the wing of the backplate. By means of a clamp-screw, u, inserted thereat, the pad is secured in the position desired. The adjustment of its pads to their respective herniae is accomplished by removing the set-screws s and a, and after placing the pad` in the position desired, first inserting the pivot-screw s through that of the outer series of holes, i, in the bar .j' which comes in coincidence with the hole in the back-,plate and main plate, and then securing it radially by inserting the set-screw a through one of the inner holes, i', in the bar j', and through the corresponding hole in the wing of the backplate.

It is manifest that the described adjustment of the pad 'can be accomplished by slots arranged in the same relative positions as the series of holes in the bar j' and wing of backplate, and I therefore do not confine myself to the latter construction.

'v is a set-screw inserted in the pad at the bearing of the spring, for the purpose of varying the play of the spring, and thus adjusting the tension of same. Since the spring constantly bears on the head ofthe screw e, a pin may be substituted for the latter, and the adjustment accomplished by interposing washers between the head of the pin and back of the pad. Having described my invention, lwh atI claim 1S- 1. A double hernia-l truss having the plate b hinged to the pad, and provided with setscrew s and lateral extension w, in the form of an arc described from the center of screw s, a spring interposed between the free end of said plate and pad, and the connecting-bar f, pivoted by one of a'series of holes in its end to set-screw s, and provided with a clamping device adapted to engage the lateral extension of plate b, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the plate b, hinged to the pad, and provided at a xed point with set-screw s and the lateral extension w, the

latter provided with a series of holes arranged in an arc described from the center of screw s, the connecting-bar f, provided with two obliquely and parallel arranged series of holes, 'i i i and i i i', and set-screw u, substantially as described and shown.

3. The combination and arrangement of the main plate e, pivoted at its upper extremity to a iXed point on the back-plate b, the back-plate having wing w, provided with a series of holes arranged in an arc described from the center of the pivot of the main plate, the connectingbar f, provided with two obliquely and paral lel arranged series of holes, t '13 t' and i' t fi', and the set-screws s and n, substantially as described and shown, for the purpose set forth.

4. In combination with the pad a, provided in its rear with a longitudinal recess, the plate b, having short pintle c projecting from its sides, and embedded in a transverse groove in the rear surface of the pad, and the plate d, tted to cover the entire upper portion of the rear of the pad, and extended partly down the sides of the longitudinal recess, substantially as described and shown, for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM L. TUCKER. Witnesses C. BENDIXEN, H. HILL. 

